Thoughts and pictures of my wanderings through the Allegheny Mountains hunting grouse and woodcock with my Ryman-type English Setters during the fall and winter months, fishing for smallmouth bass in local streams and rivers during the summer months and wandering over my 66 acres of heaven year round.

Saturday, September 12, 2015

1st Preseason Run

Thicket and I made it out for a preseason run yesterday. I had been battling a kidney stone for over 3 weeks, but I'm now on the road to recovery and was anxious to get Thicket a noseful of bird scent. We headed for Piney Creek which had held woodcock last fall and this spring for us to enjoy. The cover was especially thick.

Since I don't run a bell on Thicket and only set the beeper collar on point mode the Tek 1.0 tracking collar proved to be invaluable in keep track of Thicket. Early in the run Thicket ranged out to beyond 150 yards, which is the maximum range I want her to go, so I pressed the vibration button on her shock collar and she responded immediately and checked back in with me.

Although she hunted the cover thoroughly we didn't find any birds so we moved on to another covert.

The Bennett Run covert as discovered by Emma and I this spring. I had hunted the side of the ridge several times with a few grouse flushes but had never journeyed down to the bottom of the hollow. This spring Emma and I found a small stream with a narrow strip of brushy bottom land and had been rewarded with a good number of woodcock points.

At the mouth of the hollow where private land began Thicket's beeper went on point mode in very thick multiflora rose. I tried to reach her but after about 10 beeps the beeper fell silent. I continued to fight my way through the rose when suddenly a large woodcock took flight just in front of me. Thicket soon came crashing through the brush and I reasoned that perhaps the woodcock had run out from her point and she had been trailing it. Whatever the scenario that was the only woodcock we found on this day and we worked our way back up the ridge drenched in sweat but happy to have found a bird.

2 comments:

Sounds like a fine day afield with Thicket. Never used the Tek collars but seems like a great alternative to a bell. Glad to hear you are on the road to recovery. Look forward to watching Thicket progress this season.